Stefanski talks deadline

Bob Cooney

Posted:
Thursday, February 18, 2010, 12:48 PM

UPDATED: Sixers president/general manager just spoke with Bob Cooney about the trade deadline:

"It's a frustrating time. You make a ton of phone calls, ton of discussion, think you’re close but then salaries not matching, something in the cba and third teams and trying to work it out that way. All 30 teams keep churning and churning. It just didn’t come through that we’d get equal value or value to get better on the court right now."

On being satisfied with the status quo: "We started off poorly and I’m not happy. We’re playing better no question it. Our defense is the key to fueling us, playing better defense and rebounding the ball. We need to keep getting better and working at this every game, whatever it takes, keep looking to make some moves to get better."

Earlier: In a move that might not shake up the team but almost surely will shake up the fans, Sixers general manager Ed Stefanski has traded guard Royal Ivey and center Primoz Brezec to Milwaukee. The Bucks also get a second-round pick from the Sixers.

Brezec confirmed after practice to the Daily News that he and Ivey had been dealt.

The Sixers will receive Jodie Meeks and Francisco Elson.

The 6-4 Meeks was the No. 41 pick in the second round of the June draft. He has appeared in 41 games, averaging 4.1 points in 11.9 minutes. He is best known for scoring 54 points for Kentucky against Tennessee, including 10 threes.

The Sixers tried hard to get an extra pick in the draft in order to select Meeks, who was among the players the team brought in for workouts. Meeks is scheduled to make $650,000 this year in the first of a 3-year deal.

Elson, a 7-footer in his sixth season out of Cal, played in just 11 games this year and averaged under a point per. He had hernia surgery on Jan. 29 and is expected to be out until at least mid-March. He can be a free agent after the season.

He won a chamnpionship with the San Antonio Spurs in 2007; he began his NBA career with the Denver Nuggets and also logged time with the then-Seattle SuperSonics.

He has appeared in 404 career games over 6 seasons, averaging 3.9 points and 3.8 rebounds. He has also played in 30 playoff games, 10 with the Nuggets, 20 with the Spurs.

He averaged 3.4 points and 3.9 rebounds in 59 games with the Bucks last season, making 23 starts. He shot a career best 84.6 percent from the foul line.

His family is from Suriname, and he is fluent in five languages. He is believed to be the seventh Dutch player in league history.

Brezec has appeared in only seven games and averaged fewer than a point and two rebounds per game in those appearances. The 7-1 center signed a 1-year, $1.1 million deal with the Sixers in the offseason.

Ivey has appeared in 26 games, averaging 2.7 per game. He was in his second season with the Sixers. He opted out of the final year of his contract at the end of last season in hopes of finding a contract worth more than the veterans’ minimum elsewhere. He returned to the Sixers on a 1-year deal worth slightly more than the minimum.

Via Twitter, Andre Igoudala said about Ivey, "1 of best t'mates i ever had. didnt get to show what he could do this yr but will show and prove GOOD LUCK!"

Ivey and Brezec will join another new Buck with Philly ties. The team also acquired former Sixer John Salmons, from Plymouth Whitemarsh, in a deal with Chicago. Former Friends Central star Hakim Warrick was also in the deal going to Chicago from Milwaukee.

And does it seem like more than the nine years that have passed since the Sixers made a trade that was done to vastly improve the club – to help them boost their chances for a, gulp, chance to win a championship?

It was February 22, 2001. The Sixers, at 41-14, were among the elite in the Eastern Conference, among the upper echelon in the NBA when they traded injured center Theo Ratliff, among others, to the Atlanta Hawks for reigning defensive player of the year Dikembe Mutombo.

Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.